Four Oklahoma-based companies named to best-places-to-work list

OKLAHOMA CITY - When employees tried to explain what made their company one of the four Oklahoma businesses to be listed Thursday in Fortune's annual 100 Best Companies to Work For, they immediately cited their co-workers - "the people."

American Fidelity Assurance employee Dena Prince gets some pizza for lunch to celebrate the company making Fortune's annual list of the 100 Best Companies to Work For. (Photo by Maike Sabolich)

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After a little more prompting, however, Oklahoma City-based American Fidelity Assurance employees and workers at QuikTrip Corp. in Tulsa confirmed Fortune's own findings: Health care benefits help ensure company loyalty and a healthy staff that enjoys coming to work.

"With a family of four, medical benefits alone are astronomical these days," Art Director Angela Keeler said between slices of pizza at American Fidelity Assurance's lunch party celebrating the ranking. "But the company keeps kicking in more and more money so we don't notice the increase. The dollar match for benefits is significant."

And QuikTrip store manager Micah Brown said he's been impressed that his company now provides its own in-house physician. Brown has worked for the company 12 years.

"When I go to the doctor to choke out a cold or something like that, my prescriptions are taken care of for me. Flu shots and all that are free," he said. "It's probably the neatest benefit right now."

Life insurance provider American Fidelity Assurance ranked 46th in Fortune's list, down slightly from last year's rating at 24th. Convenience store chain QuikTrip was ranked 27th, up a position from 28th last year.

Oklahoma City-based energy giants Chesapeake and Devon also made the list again this year. Chesapeake slipped a little, down to 73rd place from 61st last year, while Devon climbed to the highest position among Oklahoma's representatives at 13th overall, up from 48th last year.

Also making the list at No. 70 was Stanley, an information technology consultation firm that focuses on government agencies. The Arlington, Va.-based company employs about 250 people in Lawton.

The annual list is based in large part on a survey by the Great Places to Work Institute, an international research and consulting firm. The 57-question survey was sent to employees at more than 350 companies nationwide. Two thirds